Maintaining Quality on Social Media

Review tips for uploading cinemagraphs to social media in the highest possible quality

Written by Vikki Dziuma Updated over a week ago

You may have noticed that when you upload a cinemagraph to social media, the quality isn't as good as it was when you exported it from Cinemagraph Pro. This isn't specific to cinemagraphs, but all videos uploaded to social media. When you upload a video to social media, it gets converted to the platform's preferred format which often decreases the quality of your video.

In the latest versions of Cinemagraph Pro for macOS and iOS, you can select a preset to optimize your cinemagraph for a specific export destination. The presets for common export destinations include: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, Facebook Profile Video and Facebook Ad Upload. Selecting a preset will populate the format, resolution, frame rate, and repetitions fields with the preferred settings of the selected destination.

In order to upload your cinemagraphs to social media in the highest possible quality, we recommend selecting the appropriate preset on export. Continue reading to learn more about recommended sizes, aspect ratios, and Facebook video settings.

Size

You may notice that when you select a social media preset, the size or resolution will be lower than expected. The reason we may impose a smaller size when selecting a social media preset is because larger videos will be compressed, resulting in a lower quality video.

Let's say you have a 4K cinemagraph you want to upload to Facebook. If you export that 4K cinemagraph at a smaller size, you'll likely see an improved level of quality over uploading the 4K cinemagraph to Facebook to be compressed.

Aspect Ratio

Square and portrait cinemagraphs tend to look better than landscape on social media. If your cinemagraph is 16:9 landscape, you may want to consider cropping it to post on social media. You can crop your cinemagraph to a 1:1 or vertical aspect ratio in Cinemagraph Pro for macOS and iOS. If you're uploading your cinemagraph to Instagram, you can select an aspect ratio between 1:1 (default) and 4:5 vertical in-app.

Facebook Video Settings

Review your video settings on Facebook to ensure you're cinemagraphs are being displayed in HD. On desktop, go to the drop-down menu at the upper right corner of the website and select Settings. Select Videos on the lefthand menu to review your video settings. To view your cinemagraphs in the highest possible quality, select HD if available under Video Default Quality.

On iOS, tap on the more icon (three lines) and select Settings. Select Account Settings and then Videos and Photos. To upload your cinemagraphs in the highest possible quality, enable Upload HD.

On Android, tap on the more icon and select App Settings under Help & Settings. To upload your cinemagraphs in the highest possible quality, enable Upload Videos in HD.